Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed Centre to implement the 100-day work scheme under MGNREGA "forthwith" in Bengal after Centre said there was no impediment in starting it with prospective effect.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sujay Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen noted that "nobody opposed the prayer for implementing the scheme forthwith".
"So far as the benefit of arrears etc. are concerned, we deem it appropriate to grant four weeks' time to the official respondents to file their affidavit-in-opposition. Exception (if any), may be filed within two weeks thereafter," the court said.
The additional solicitor general submitted that there was no impediment in implementing MGNREGS with prospective effect.
The bench directed the Bengal govt to write to the Centre to release Rs 564 crore dues, accumulating over all these years, as its share in the MGNREGS account.
The directive on Friday came days after a two-judge Supreme Court bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta dismissed the Centre's appeal against a Calcutta HC order directing the renewal of the suspended MGNREGS in Bengal from Aug 1, 2025.
A Calcutta HC division bench of then Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das), while passing the order on July 18, had held: "The scheme of the MGNREG Act is not that the scheme will be put to cold storage for eternity."
The then CJ, after perusing the affidavit of the under-secretary, ministry of rural development, held that the Centre had sufficient powers to inquire into the irregularities and take action as was done in at least four districts of Bengal. "However, there can be a line drawn between past actions and future steps to be taken to implement the scheme," the division bench had observed.
They also noted that the person who obtained benefit illegally should not be allowed to go scot-free and should be dealt with firmly, but at this juncture, "the court is concerned about the implementation of the scheme in the state of West Bengal prospectively".
The Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity had approached the HC alleging that workers did not receive wages under the 100-day scheme since Dec 2021. The Centre froze funds, citing large-scale corruption, irregularities and fake job cards.